Lawyers say the Federal Government ‘sports rorts’ saga is just one instance of broader, systemic abuse.

Constitutional lawyers Professor Emeritus Cheryl Saunders and Professor Michael Crommelin, as well as former Department of Finance economist Glenys Byrne, say the federal government has exceeded its powers in running grants programs like the now infamous Community Sport Infrastructure Grants (CSIG) scheme.

Professor Saunders says the way that successive governments have set up and run such grants programs has been “a complete abuse of taxpayers' money”.